Another stock I like: IRobot (they make the "Roomba" & other robots)
iRobot (symbol IRBT):
At first glance, looks like there must be something wrong with the company-- share price "fell off a cliff" on Feb 8t, .and has been slowly drifting down since then. But there's more to the story than that.
Of course I could be wrong-- but here's my take on the situation:
1. Robotics has a great future (already widely in used in many areas--especially in automating various operations in industry).
2. IRBT seems to be the best or one of the best in the field, and very innovative
3 In the past, most income came from:
A-Their popular Roomba vacuum cleaner
B-Military robots
4 But because the winding down of war in Iraq & Afghanistan means military spending cuts-- and the company losing sales in one of their two main product lines, the stock price really plummeted a while back.
Sounds bad. So why do I like it?
Because this company is very innovative--IMO they will come up with other uses for robots that will more than offset the loss of mililtary robot sales.
And the price is really low-- looks to me like it could be a reasonable buy here...probably significant long term upside.....
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And their Roomba vacuum cleaner looks easy to use:
[Note: the purchase price does not include the pussycat-- that is an optional extra]
Makes me want to dance.
Wait.. that's a wally cat on the roomba.
not a financial or stock dude at all but still can see thiscomingas clear as daylight...
"one word"...
Robotics
...Those that actually provide an actual consumer level of expectation, will grow beyond all and every expectation. There is no way around it.
Earnings reported...stock price responds:
Nice!
:~)
I must say, Dr. Krishna, that your ability to discern quality in stocks is much better than that in political advertising.
I am an amateurtechnical stock analyst and consider your pick a very worthy one; especially considering that it was made with the stock in the doldrums over six weeks ago.It has jumped about 20% in the last three days but is still a dozen points below its 2012 high of 37.
I support your recomendation, would buy somearound the present price of 24.04and double up on a 2-point drop where it has strong support.
Good trading$$$$
Just bought a lot more recently at $18.01/share. IMO it might not go too much lower. While at first both the fundamentals and the technicals look terrible, further research shows, IMO, good prospects over the long term for a patient investor--I expect at least a double here. And in the meantime I can generate income and minimize risk by selling covered calls. (Note: This is a risky investment-- if you don't know what you're doing, do not buy this!!!!)
Thanks for your feedback
I'm mainly a fundamentals guy. I think it may still have a bit more downside. But IMO its been way oversold on news of losing most of the large part of their business (military robots). The reason I like it is that they areextremely innovative-- I'm pretty sure over time they'll come up with some more very innovative stuff. (And of course robotic is a "hot" sector). Medical...security..many other sectors.
News, 12/3:
Cool looking little drone.
Update, 3/11 (After the close):
Supposedly they make nice pets as well
iRobot's Tablet PC Controlled Drones
This one looks cool:
Guess my concern would be a swifter like product is similar and China will come out with a clone or carbon copy. China has printed books for decades that they had no permission to reproduce. But as you say they have done well hopefully they will do well in the future.
Well, competition is always concern for most any company-- especially when it comes to developing new technology (look what happened to Apple stock -- although the problem was due more to Korea--[Samsung]-- than China).
Well, its a cliche-- but true: Past results are not indicative of future performance . (For example: Eastman Kodak also did well in the past--but now...
Looks like the all time high was about $90/share...see what its trading for today
Speaking of Apple, they earnmore thanGoogle ($44 vs. $32) but sell for almost half the price ($456 vs. $813).
What does that tell you?
Speaking of Kodak, they were very early in digital cameras but suppressed it because of fear it would hurt their film business.
I like irbt lonjg term but the markets are topping out now.
Good trading,
Len
Good question!
Of course stock prices don't reflect the actual value of a company-- but rather the perceived value.
And of course they reflect investors best guesses re the future. (IMO investors have been guessing wrong re AAPL-- a bit overly negative.
I really like GOOG but won't go near it at this price.
(I did buy more AAPL a few weeks ago-- I think it may be near a bottom. I no longer see it as a fantastic growth stock of course, but at this point as a solid value play. (And a possible good dividend payer in the future).
Currently I am looking at buying more of:
1-NUAN (granted its very risky-- not for everyone! but the technology has quite a future and they are a leader...possible takeover candidate as well...???)
2-More RNF (IMO oversold...still a good future, and nice dividend).
3-As always, when I have "leftover" cash, am accumulating WFM for the longterm.
And, on significant pullbacks only: possibly FB, HEK (!), KSU, BLK, LVS, MDLZ, and watching others. I also like MLPs such as PAA and EPD (too expensive now). HAIN. More IRBT. Infrastructure: PWR. And MIC is fantastic. Looking at airlines.
So many stocks...so little time!
>>So many stocks...so little time!
And so little money:-)
You are a good stock picker.
True.
Howver, I have actually cut back on my expenses in order to have money to invest.
And, in addition, while I try to mainly pick small, relatively unknown companies with potential to increase in stock price, I also try to pick some less speculative ones that pay good dividends (for example RNF -- it currently returns 8.40% on an investment although is in a downtrend now) . Then using dividend $$$ to re-invest.
Well, we won't know for sure for a while
But I do a lot of research-- not only on stocks, but also on my own psychological tendencies-- when I make a mistake I want to see what I did wrong in hopes of improving next time.
IMO one of the biggest mistakes beginners make is believing articles they read-- and not doing enough research.
RNF is paying over 10% right now and selling at about 13 times earnings. The chart looks oversold and under accumulation.
I use a combination of fundamental and tech analysis myself but do not trust either near market tops. At tops, everything disappoints.
I agree with you about Apple and, notwithstanding my comment above,think it safe here. Just as it went down big time during a market rise it could well resist a decline.
Except maybe for lesser known stocks-- especially if they have their own unique-- and very strong, story.
And, of course,while the indices may be toppy--AAPL certainly isn't.
NUAN (I like it, but its very risky). Its movement lately is not correlated to the overall market but rather its own story. Very speculative, But I may buy some tomorrow. (Overall market may be near or at a top. But NUAN...not so much! If its worthwhile stock --admittedly a big if-- and one has a big risk tolerance-- nows is a good time to buy. Also, their technology may be the best in the sector-- a possible takeover candidate?):
Also HEK-- very risky. But while the overall market maybe toppy, its possible HEK has great upside from here. What they do is interesting, but I need to research it more:
Water solutions for fracking in Shale deposits...I wonder.?
Yike.
Surveillance and death seem profitable these days.....
OMG-- something just flew in an open window in my bedroom. I thought it was a bird. But...could it be...Oh nooooo!!!!!
Actually to some degree that's a real concern. And to some degree that's already happened (for example a lot of major corporations have already automated production lines to an amazing degree.). And of course earlier on compters automated many tasks so they also have replaced some workers. Technological unemployment.
These military robots have have a positive effect however. Rather then sending a soldier or two into a suspicious house (where the occupants might be friedndy--hostile) and risking lives of both the soldiers and the occupants, they send in a robot with a camera first. Not only does this saves lives--but of course then robots don't replace the soldiers any more than, say, a tank would. (And of course their vacuum cleaning Rhumbas don't replace housewives but merely replace conventional vacuums.
Plus-- they're fun for cats!
I find that video both fascinating and repellant.
Just wait until The Singularity.
Technically, NUAN appears ready to bounce back from whence it recently came. But it is fundamentally not high grade according to the Barron's Stock Grader service.
"MarketGrader currently has a SELL rating on Nuance Communications, Inc. (NUAN), based on a final overall grade of 44.8 (of 100)scored by the company's fundamental analysis. Nuance Communications, Inc. scores at the 56th percentile among all 5957 North American equities currently followed by MarketGrader. Our present rating dates to February 9, 2013, when it was downgraded from a HOLD. Relative to the Packaged Software sub-industry, which is comprised of 90 companies, Nuance Communications, Inc.'s grade of 44.8 ranks 40th. The industry grade leader is Manhattan Associates, Inc. (MANH) with an overall grade of 77.9. The stock has performed poorly in the last six months in relative terms, down 26.37% compared with the Packaged Software sub-industry, up 5.55% and the S&P 500 Index, up 6.88%. "
HEK also looks good technically but much worse than NUAN fundamentally.
"Very Inadequate Fundamental Rating -
MarketGrader currently has a SELL rating on Heckmann Corp. (HEK), based on a final overall grade of 20.5 scored by the company's fundamental analysis. Heckmann Corp. scores at the 14th percentile among all 5957 North American equities currently followed by MarketGrader. Our present rating dates to December 24, 2011, when it was downgraded from a HOLD. Relative to the Water Utilities sub-industry, which is comprised of 15 companies, Heckmann Corp.'s grade of 20.5 ranks 13th. The industry grade leader is Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo SABESP (SBS) with an overall grade of 72.4. The stock has performed poorly in the last six months in relative terms, down 11.89% compared with the Water Utilities sub-industry, up 11.82% and the S&P 500 Index, up 6.88%. "
FWIW, Cramer doesn't like NUAN either.
However, this article in Forbes just came out today-- it expresses a lot of what I have been thinking. So-- I increased my holdings of NUAN today.
Here's a link to the article and a discussion on NT: Speech Recognition Technology -- The New Mouse For The Digital Age (Stock buy: NUAN?)
Thanks.
It has moved up acouple of percentsince last week and still lookis good technically.
I am still waiting for the market shoe to drop before getting rid of more cash.
The market is good at outwaiting investers and has more patience than they do.
You're welcome
I think it still has a lot of upside over the longterm. But I have been reluctant to buy more because its moved up so much. Don't expect much of a pullback (well, maybe if the entire market slips into doom and gloom as it often does in the late Fall).
I agree-- the overall market has been quite frothy, looks a bit toppy. A time to be cautious re buying stuff.
However IMO its generally riskier to buy better known larger companies-- some of the smaller ones may not be as correlated to the overall market.
At the risk of being cliched-- this really is "a stock picker's market".
Or to put it another way (another favourite saying on the street)-- there's always a bull market somewhere.
Here's a good video about iRobot's throwable robot:
Here's a link to the article.
Sixpick posted another excellent video on NT--about the uses of small robots. Here's the link.
Almost a five bagger since the 2009 low amid prospects of yet another double.
Congratulations.
Thanks
Since I am very diversified, I did not put a tremendous amt of money into this one...unfortunately.
But its been my best pick, by far, in quite a while. (I hve a few other small companies that are speculative-- may or may not do well: PWR, IMGN, PT, NUAN, HEK.
PT has been very depressed-- heavy European exposure. Just bought some more at just over $5/share. But it looks like Europe may be bottoming (?)-- if so it may have good upside. Its also a Brazil play, which might have large potential. In the meantime, it pays a really big dividend. But speculative of course).
Carl Icahn bought into NUAN after I did. First time he paid $19.50/share-- then bought more on a dip. Speculative, but IMO may have good potential over time . It looks like great technology but poor execution- maybe Icahn can fix that. Also, it may be a takeover candidate...? But risky).
My biggest holding (In regular stocks) is WFM. it had been doing nothing much for quite a while-- but just started moving. I think Wall St still doesn't realize the potential of the trend toward healthy food-- also healthy food for weight loss. And of coursen the company mgmt is brillaint. Its about $100 now. I see this as a longterm investment as they are going to re-invest most of their profits into a large program of building new stores. (And now a lot more competition-- regular supermarkets and even big box stores like even Target and Costco carrying more and more organic food.
I am going to cool it for a while-- but may buy a little more PT next week. `(IMO this is the sort of stock that, while highly speculative, has been beaten down so much that it might be a good buy even if the overall market is starting to look quite "frothy").
Closed today at $38.21-- first double I've had in a long, long time!
And it still may have more upside-- but I wouldn't buy more now after its had such a big run...
Awesome and way to go Krish!
:~)
I saw a commercial the other day for IRobot. I had no idea of the commercial and healthcare applications that IRobot has launched---what a winning idea! This company is going to continue to roll all the way to the bank big-time!
Well, I do have to admit that this is my best pick over the last 2 or 3 years-- none of the others have doubled.
I am now focusing less on smaller more speculative companies and more on high dividend payers (over 5%) where the stock price should remain fairly constant or grow slightly.
Wow, you have nearly 700 views at this posting. So, somebody's interested!
We know robotics technology is the 'new thing' and will slowly be more advanced and affordable. It seems like a decent investment.
Ok... I won't.
It was. Robotices is really taking off. One reason I picked this particular stock was that I did a lot of research and it seemed they were unusually innovative.
LOL!
At the time I bought, it did look risky...very speculative. But it looked like a worthwhile speculation.
A smart risk, Krish. And what better way to entertain kitties so that they won't be tempted to walk on the kitchen counters. Our futures with Robotics should be interesting!
You cannot discuss robotics without mentioning that Google is jumping in lock, stock and barrel with driverless cars being just the tip of the iceberg. They are buying up robotics companies.
Can the recent jump in irbt be a takeover harbinger?
Cramer just did a segment on robotics tonight! Discusses Google's involvement, also says nice things about IRBT: Cramer picks: iRobot (1/17/2014)
I've been expecting it to be taken over for some time now-- surprised it hasn't been. But I haven't heard that discussed (even Cramer didn't mention it as a takeover candidate).
But because of Google, there's a lot more awareness of the importance of robots . Also, there's been a few positive articles about iRobot, and I saw they now have a commercial on TV. Plus, I believe they've just entered the Chinese market. And finally-- the stock market has really been taking off, lots of people just seem to keep buying almost anything in sight!
Even if its not taken over, I think it still may have more upside, but I'm not buying more here because its had such a huge run.
Actually I'm no longer trying to discover "unknown" tech companies with potential-- that sort of research is too time consuming. (I still own a fair amount of NUAN (voice recognition)-- I have a pretty big paper loss. I think they have excellent technology, but apparently the mgmt sucks). I'm hoping eventually the mgmt will change.
If I buy anything lately, I'm looking for relatively safe companies paying good dividends. Especially MLPs-- Just bought a little more PAA, before that a little more KMP. IMO the best MLP is EPD-- bought that long ago, but its had too much of a run up to buy more now.
Apparently KMP has excellent management, but is slightly leveraged to the price of oil (I'm bearish on oil).. apparently the other two are not leveraged to oil-- they're like toll roads-- just keep collecting fees whether the economy is good or bad, & whether the price of oil is high or low. (All 3 are pipeline companies).
And the hits just keep on coming!
Yesterday's close was $45.06. A little profit taking today. Over the longterm probably has more upside, but IMO its gone up a bit too far too fast-- I probably should have liquidated entire holdings today and taken a nice profit.